Ric and Sharon Bruce On a journey with you to Thailand
Today’s photo essay comes from a village near Mae Jaem, in the mountains past Doi Inthanon. Large portions of this Karen group have embraced the gospel whole-heartedly. Our Thai teacher often takes us on trips all over Northern Thailand to visit his friends and family or to attend weddings of people he knows.
Karen Woman
We have more pictures from the Lawa wedding we attended this week embedded on our website. These ones are from my camera wing-man: our Thai teacher, “older brother” and friend (which is a weird combination here). If you’re a picture fanatic and have to see absolutely every single picture we post you can see them all on Picasa. (more…)
An engagement photo from 2005
Five years ago this weekend we celebrated the beginning of a new life together with our friends and family. Our wedding centerpieces included maps of different parts of the world and bibles illustrating our commitment to missions as well as to each other. We’re holding tightly to both commitments five years later. Each day we look to the Lord for wisdom in balancing our commitment to one another and our commitment to the work He’s given us to do. (more…)
Most weekends we go out with our friends from church. Primary activities include: visiting sick people in the hospital, going to weddings, spending six hours praying, boiling eggs at hot springs, going to a revival or riding a hot bus for hours and hours. Not exactly the way we would have spent our weekends back home.
Here’s what we’re learning though: it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing. The most important thing is that you’re doing it together with friends. That’s certainly a strong value we’ve observed playing itself out over and over again in the six months since we’ve been here. Embedded on our website are some pictures from this weekend illustrating my point: (more…)
It’s not often you get to see everyday life while living as a guest in another country so we feel privileged to share these pictures which were taken by our friends (on one of our cameras). They’ve generously agreed to allow us to post them here so please enjoy them and if you’d like to see more pop over to our Picasa Web Albums to see them all (you can also zoom in on these ones).
Great portrait of a street vendor
Headed to a wedding.
Wedding. Love this picture.
Having fun.
Raw Larb meat salad.
Old tribal woman
Can you find the lizards in the tree?
Heading home.
Check out all our pictures at Picasa.
A lot of family came for Sarah’s wedding. It was fun to see everyone. Here are some pictures of things we did together:
Sarah and Stephen had a wonderful wedding! My good friend Brett Maxwell and I took the photos at the wedding. I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you. Below you’ll find a sampling. These previews are not intended for printing or for commercial use.
This weekend we spent Saturday celebrating the marriage of Micah and Susan in Jersey Shore, PA. I’ve known Micah since I was his roommate for two years at New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, MI and was honored to be one of his groomsmen. See the pictures here.
Sharon’s parents grew up in a small valley in south-west New York state, where some of her extended family still lives. We love to come back to visit the family and take a much-needed break from the daily grind. Tomorrow we will take off for a wedding in Pennsylvania and a few days of hiking. We love visiting the town… the area is beautiful!
Please pray for safety as we’re on the road and for a time of refreshment and relaxation as we accomplish one of our goals before heading to Cambodia next year: spending time with family.
Normally during the summer I would be updating from somewhere exotic: Alaska, Cambodia, the Appalachian Trail. This summer is a bit more normal, but certainly not mundane! We’ve been all over the midwest to share our ministry and to connect with friends.
Our Summer Events:
Fourth of July
We spent the fourth with family, supporting my aunt and uncle’s local business in Grand Ledge, and lighting fireworks. Check out more pictures here.
Tenth of July
We spent a day up north on the Leelanau Peninsula and Traverse City with good friends and partners in ministry. The place was stunning! Incredibly beautiful. We were there on the last day of the National Cherry Festival. Delicious! Pictures.
Seventeenth of July
We traveled to Ohio for a good friend’s wedding this past weekend. It was a lot of fun to re-connect with old friends and make new ones. Pictures.
Well, those are our major events. During the week, our internship with Trinity Church continues and we are re-connecting with old friends and close family here in Michigan. Please pray for us as we raise financial and prayer support for our ministry in Cambodia.
Twitter: